The Rescue Job
by MacyBear17
Summary: How Eliot Spencer showed the people at Carter Security Consultants, a world famous security firm, that you did not mess with what was his... An E/P angst-y romance... enjoy :
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N : Hi!... I am back with a brand new E/P story... This one's a little different from my other utterly fluffy ones... I am trying my hand at writing angst-y stuff for the first time... hope it turns out well... (fingers crossed) Please review and tell me how you liked it... or if you didn't, review to tell me why and what i could do to make it better...**_

_**Disclaimer :Don't own anything that's connected to Leverage or the actors in it... :(**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 01<strong>

"Nate, you know that this is insane... You can't let her go alone..."

Eliot was clearly agitated, trying to convince the mastermind of the Leverage Associates team that sending their thief alone into a secure facility to break into one of the corporate offices and get them sensitive data that was stored there was a very bad idea.

The team had taken the job at the beginning of this week... This time it was for a long time employee of Carter Security Consultants, the largest and most famous private security firm in the country that had been wrongfully fired for just doing his job, while the bosses had been running shady side businesses and getting kickbacks from the local gangs. The firm was famous for its unblemished track record and for recruiting ex- military professionals who were extremely good at what they did.

But the major hitch with this week's job was that Eliot Spencer, an ex-navy SEAL who had also been part of a couple of Black Ops teams back in the day, was a well known man in those circles and the team couldn't risk compromising their plan and identities by having him in a position that involved him being inside the building. Eliot had tried to convince the rest of them that he could disguise himself enough to get by without notice but the team had shot down his idea, knowing that if by any chance the Carter people found him out, it would be close to impossible to get him out alive.

The team had already tried about half a dozen different ways to get in and out of the building with very little to show for it and were now pinning their hopes on this last ditch effort... At least most of the team was. Eliot was openly against this plan while Parker hadn't really said anything yet. Nate had first spoken to Parker about this being a back up plan and they'd both set it up, choosing a strategic position for her entry and exit, just in case.

"You know that it has to be this way or no other way Eliot... We've tried everything else we could think of... Plus, Parker has been training a lot with you and we both know that she's capable of getting herself out of a sticky situation if need be... So this is how it is going to be. Okay?... Parker... Are you ready?"

Parker, who'd been silent throughout the argument, was standing on the rooftop of the building opposite to that of the security firm. She already had a zipline pegged up and ready... all setup for her to just slide her way down from one rooftop to the next. That was the easy part of it. It was the rest of it that was going to be quite tough, even for someone of her skill sets.

She hadn't been completely comfortable with this plan from the beginning, and she was even more anxious now that she knew Eliot wasn't going to be there, right alongside her, backing her up, protecting her from anything and everything that could harm her or any of them in the team.

"I still feel that this isn't right... I am not comfortable having Parker do this alone."

"Eliot... I think you're over reacting to this. Parker has done this a million times before... She can take care of herself okay?" came the soothing voice of Sophie as she softly spoke into her comm from inside their target building, where she was in the lobby, playing her role in the con.

"Yeah man!... Take it easy... We're all pros man... Parker is a top-notch thief and she can do this with her eyes closed... besides, I am gonna be in her ear all the way, guiding her through the security system. And lemme tell you... They might be a world famous security firm but they ain't nothin' in front of the guy who broke the Steranko!... Right man?"

This from a hyped up Hardison sitting next to him in Lucille 2.0, parked a safe distance from their target.

Parker could almost see Eliot shaking his head in frustration. Both she and Eliot knew what kind of trouble she could get into if she lost focus even for a second. The others might not know, she wasn't sure about Nate but she knew that neither Hardison nor Sophie had any idea of what ex-Black Ops people were capable of, especially when you were literally taking the challenge to them by breaking into their stronghold.

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><p><em><strong>AN : Hope you guys liked where this fic is going... review and tell me what you thought... Also, this is my first time writing technical stuff... So tell me if I make any mistakes... :)**_

_**luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N : Am back with one more chapter of E/P goodness... Still waiting on the angst factor cuz I am just filling in some background info now... It's jus' a little bit tense... the real angst-y bits come later... ( cue evil grin)**_

_**Thanks to all the ppl who reviewed... Thanks especially to Mercedes, who's been awesome about reviewing on my stories... You make me want to keep posting more chapters sooner and sooner... :)**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 02<strong>

Parker had come to know Eliot more than anyone else in the group, especially after they'd started seeing each other outside of work. The two of them had been involved with each other for the last couple of months but none of the others in the team knew of it. Sophie, with her bloodhound-esque instincts might suspect something, but even she didn't know anything for sure. They'd gone to great lengths to keep this little bit of information from them, unwilling to share the small niche they'd created for themselves, away from the rest of the world that seldom understood either of them.

In the last two months, Parker and Eliot had shared more of themselves with each other than they'd ever been able to do with anyone else in the world... not even their family. They now knew things about each other that no one other than the people involved knew. In the beginning, both Parker as well as Eliot had gone into the relationship thinking that it was a way to let off steam, to get rid of the unresolved sexual tension that had brewed between them since the day they'd met.

But what it had turned out to be had been a safe haven in both of their lives, a place where they could just be themselves and not have the other person judge them, not have to be on constant alert for danger or when the person next to them would cheat them out of what was rightfully theirs. They'd both fit so well around each other both physically as well as emotionally, that when they were not on a job, it was hard to say where one ended and the other began.

Parker, for all her flightiness and craziness, brought the missing element of freedom and happiness into Eliot's life while Eliot gave her the security and stability she'd craved. They might've been made for each other if they happened to believe in stuff like that, but as it was, they were content to be in the relationship and see where it took them.

They certainly hadn't intended for this to be the result, but somehow, somewhere along the way, the two of them had become involved in something that had grown bigger than the sum of its parts. They'd fallen in love with each other and now, they were both so emotionally invested in the relationship, that not being together might just break them.

But right now, Parker needed to be at the top of her game. She needed to come back to Eliot in one piece and for that she needed his complete support. If she knew that he was worrying about her, she might lose concentration and who knew where that might make her end up?... For both her sake and his, she had to make sure Eliot was okay with this before she put one toe off the ledge she was currently standing on.

"Eliot?..."

For a second, there was utter silence as Eliot just relished the sound of her voice softly saying his name. Quickly snapping himself out of it, before anyone else in the team found something weird about it, Eliot growled out a 'yeah', his standard reply to anyone who disturbed him when he was annoyed.

He could almost hear Parker stifling the smile that threatened to break out on her cute little face as she tried to frame a sentence asking him to cooperate with the rest of the team.

"You and I both know that this is the only way we can help our client Eliot... I know what I am in for, and I promise I'll be extra careful, Okay?... I need you with me on this so that I can go in without any distractions. Now tell me... are we okay... to get on with this?"

The grumbling and growling she heard over the comms this time made her smile widely. She'd been quite circumspect while wording her request and she knew that while none of the others had any clue to what she was actually trying to convey, Eliot had gotten exactly what she was telling him. Sophie might read something into the way she'd worded the sentence or the cadence of her words but Parker was sure that neither Nate nor Hardison would ever suspect her of anything other than her unique brand of craziness

"You'd better come back in one piece or..."

"Yeah, yeah you big teddy bear... we all know what you're capable of..."

Eliot literally wanted to growl this time when he heard his crazy girlfriend's snickering over the comm along with the amused chuckles from the rest of the team... Ever since she'd called him that once and he'd failed to retaliate (_basically cuz he'd been struck dumb... and had no idea how to react to something like that_) Parker had taken to calling him a teddy bear whenever she felt he was being grouchy... if not to make him feel better, then to at least deflect the rest of the team from his bad mood... and for that alone, he loved her to pieces.

Shaking his head at the futility of his attempts to get them to stop the madness, Eliot resigned himself to silently worrying about Parker's safety and his mental health at allowing his girlfriend to go alone into a building teeming with ex- military goons, all of whom wouldn't take a moment to think before snapping her in half with their bare hands if they found her.

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><p><em><strong>AN : Hope this was good enough to keep the hungry lions at bay till i can come up with the next chapter... :P Promise more action in the third chapter... It will be of Parker breaking into the office with the help of the team... Keep reviewing your thoughts guys... **_

_**luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hi!... Here's Chapter 3 for your reading pleasure... I went out on a limb writing this one with a lot of technical details that i am not very comfortable writing... so please please please review and tell me whether i managed to make you believe even a single bit of it... :)**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 03<strong>

The soft sound of Parker's breathing and the buzzing sound generated by the clamp sliding across the zipline were the only sounds the rest of the team heard for the next few seconds. There was a slight grunt as Parker landed smoothly on the rooftop of the Carter building and she was back in contact with them

"Okay guys... I am on the roof. Hardison, whet next?"

"Sophie you're up next... I am gonna need you to get that RF ID card and swipe it through the reader that I gave you..."

"On it... Just give me a second here."

They all heard Sophie schmooze their mark for a couple of minutes before Hardison heard the swish of the card being swiped through the reader.

"Okay mama... I am gonna need you to put your phone near the lock so that i can open up that roof access... It's some 5 meters to the right of you."

After following Hardison's instructions, Parker heard the electronic door open with a slight snick, letting her slip in quietly. She placed a small rubber stick-on jamb at the bottom edge of the door so that it wouldn't lock behind her again but would stay stuck where it was, minimizing any noise. Once she was inside the building, Parker started to whisper her comments

"Okay guys... door prepped for exit. Now Hardison..."

"Yeah.. go down the staircase, to the elevators... take the middle one down to the 36th floor... that's four floors down. got that?"

"Okay... any lasers or motion detectors?"

"Yeah... a motion detector on the fifth step from the top, and a couple of lasers down the hallway... Nothing you and I can't get through..."

"Roger that... will get back to you guys when I am through the laser fields."

There was another minute of radio silence, only serving to increase Eliot's already high tension level. Hardison and Eliot watched in tense silence from Lucille as the small thief picked her way through a maze of static lasers without managing to trigger an alarm. The first field was quite easy, the second one just a little tougher, but nothing the master thief couldn't get through with ease. The fact that Eliot couldn't react in any way for possibility of revealing his emotions and betraying the trust Parker had put in him made it even worse for the hitter. Finally, Parker got back to them

"That was almost ridiculously easy... okay...next... the elevators."

The team didn't think to respond to that comment but Eliot thought he heard a little bit of doubt seeping into Parker's voice and he knew that both he and the thief were thinking the same thing. This was almost too easy... too good to be true.

For the next minute, they heard some annoying elevator music as Parker took the elevator down to the executive floor where the CEO of Carter Consultants, a man going by the name of Pierce Carter, had his offices.

"Hardison, are you sure you have it under control?... something about this seems off to me."

"Why would you say that Eliot?" asked Nate from his vantage position in a cafe in front of the Carter building.

"It's jus... I guess..."

"Spit it out Eliot..." Nate was getting a little irritated at the doom and gloom that Eliot was carrying with him on this job

"It's jus' too easy man... There's no problem re-routing security cameras, there are no guards, jus' a coupla lasers, one motion detector, not enough man... It all jus' feels too easy... too perfect. Somethin' jus' feels wrong"

The agitation Eliot was feeling was showing on his accent as he continued to rake slightly shaky fingers through his hair as he contemplated this feeling.

"Nate... I think we should get Parker out of there. Or atleast let me go in after her. I have this feeling and it's... it's almost never wrong."

There was a bit of silence from everyone as they contemplated the hitter's statement.

"Nate... I don't wanna make you rethink this but I am going to have to agree with Eliot on this. Think about it guys... This is supposed to be a world famous security firm. I don't think it should be this easy to be able to rob them..."

"What you are saying is correct Parker... It should be tough... very tough... nearly impossible for anyone to rob these guys. And it will be... for anyone that's not us. We are all very good at what we do and we're working together. I am not saying that we are the best at doing this but this time, we have a plan, nothing's gone wrong yet and we are going to stick to the plan until and unless we have a problem... Is that clear?..."

At the whispered affirmative from the rest of the team, Nate continued

"Okay... now that we are clear on this, I suggest we focus on getting the job done and clearing out as soon as possible... Parker, you get into the office yet?"

"Yes... I am in. The safe is a Norwegian make, I've cracked this one before, it's gonna take me some time to get this done... can't really rush the process."

"We get it... How much?"

"How much what?"

"He's asking how much time you're going to need Parker..." she heard Eliot growl out. His tension and agitation were clearly heard in his voice

"I'll need 4 minutes 20 seconds... and I'll also need Mr. Grumpy-pants here to stop growling in my ear..."

She felt bad commenting about Eliot when she knew that he was worried about her but for the sake of appearences, she had to make that comment or Sophie atleast would become suspicious by the time the team finished the job. Also, she knew that while Eliot was a thorough professional, he worried a lot about her and the rest of their dysfunctional family and while she loved them all, she didn't quite want to let them know about her and Eliot yet. So her comment was as much for Eliot's benefit as for the rest of the team's... She was reminding him that he had to keep his emotions under wraps for at least some more time.

"Okay guys... I am gonna start working on the safe and I am gonna need some silence for a couple of minutes.. got that?"

The next minutes of radio silence were probably the longest four minutes of Eliot Spencer's life. It didn't help that Hardison was keeping up a continuous chatter of inane stuff inside the van that was grating on Eliot's already frayed nerves. Had he not been so irritated with Hardison and the whole stiuation, he might've noticed it earlier. As it stood Eliot failed to notice the fact that the vibration sensitive system, that was a part of the patented Carter security technology, was disabled on the roof, where Parker had entered through. At least he didn't notice it until it was too late.

"Parker... listen..."

"Sh... Shhh... I'm almost there..."

"Parker wait... this is important... Isn't the Carter system supposed to function based on vibration sensors?... Why weren't we setting off any alarms by breaking in through the roof?"

Eliot almost heard the 'duh' in her voice before she responded, but he was distracted by the dawning look of comprehension and horror on Hardison's face.

"Duh... because Hardison disabled them before I got on the roof Eliot... Where have you been in the last few minutes?"

"That's the thing hun... I've been right here and I know that Hardison did not disable any vibration sensors on the roof or in the roof access..."

There was a second's silence before the truth sunk in collectively into the brains of the team. They had been set up. They didn't know if their client had set them up or if the mark had become aware of their plans... but Eliot wasn't focusing on any of that now. He dimly heard Nate telling Parker to get out of there... and saying that Sophie and he were also abandoning their posts to return to the van in two minutes.

Eliot was focusing on listening to what was happening on the executive floors while he prepared himself for what he knew would be a long and dirty fight if he had to get into the building to rescue Parker.

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><p><em><strong>AN: Hope you guys liked this one... review and tell me guys... I've never written much technical stuff or angst before and I need the feedback to write further chapters... **_

_**luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hello there... Here's the next chapter for y'all... Thanks a lot for all the awesome reviews... And the response for my new prompts based series of ficlets is just fantastic... You can expect more E/P goodness soon... I am going to try and write fics for all the prompts I get... so wrack your brains and get them out there for me... The first prompt was from SharkGurl... It'll be online for you to read in just a coupla days I guess... meanwhile... here we are with some tense moments...**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 04<strong>

"Parker talk to me... are you out yet?"

"Just a second... I almost have it. I just need ten seconds more to crack the safe. We've already gone through the trouble of getting here, I am just gonna get the stuff we came here to get and then scramble..."

Parker flinched when she heard Eliot yell his frustration at her thickheaded-ness and lack of concern for her own safety as she heard the locks open with a slight hiss and she quickly took everything that was in the small safe, storing it in strategic padded pockets sewn into her suit.

"Got it... leaving the offices... now."

This was followed a second later by

"Uh... guys... The lock has reengaged... I have to crack the electronic lock and the roof panels are too small to get to the ducts... even a kid wouldn't fit in them... This will take just a coupla seconds more I guess..."

Now Eliot could hear the fear and uncertainty leach into the blonde's voice. The hitter was almost jumping out of his skin in nervousness when he heard Nate and Sophie make it back to Lucille 2.0. Eliot was in the process of climbing out of the van as the mastermind and the grifter came into view.

"Parker stay where you are baby... I am coming for you. Do not... I repeat... Do not unlock the door. I want you to stay inside the office for as long as you can..."

"But... El-"

"He's right Parker... Stay inside the office. We have video on them, we'll keep you appraised of their progress, Eliot's coming to get you out of there... Just sit tight okay?"

Eliot had never been more thankful for the mastermind's quick understanding of the situation and the way the hitter was thinking right now. Had Eliot had more time, he would've noticed Sophie and Hardison giving him slightly pointed looks at his last comment calling her '_baby_'... but as it was, he was too busy concentrating on listening to his thief's voice to take any notice of anything else.

"O...Okay Nate... I'll be here... Eliot..."

"I'm on my way sweetheart..."

The hitter's voice softened in such a way at the last word that it made the grifter turn sharply in his direction and give him an assessing look that might've made his hackles rise under normal circumstances.

"I know... come soon..."

There was a definite catch in her voice now. Eliot couldn't figure out why before he heard the background voices through the comms. The cams inside Lucille were showing that there was a group of security guys right outside the office where Parker was holed up and that they were discussing options right that moment.

Sophie knew for sure now that something was going on with their hitter and their thief and she was dying to know the details. But even she knew that now wasn't the time for going into those things. She was sincerely hoping that Eliot could get Parker out safely and they could all go back home so that she could find out more about what was going on between the two of them.

Eliot couldn't help but feel guilty. His brain knew that it wasn't his fault... but try telling that to his heart that was literally drowning in its own emotions right now. Parker should've never been in this situation. He should've been there right next to her... only, this time, he'd been too complacent, listening to the team's objections and agreeing to let their thief go alone into the building. Had he been there with her, maybe this situation wouldn't have happened at all. He knew he shouldn't be thinking all this right now, but the thought wouldn't escape his mind when he heard Parker's breath hitch as the number of voices outside the office increased in number.

Parker was supposed to be a shadow... She was supposed to get in, get what they wanted and get out without anyone even noticing. She'd almost never had to be in a situation where she'd gotten caught and had to fight her way out of it. Eliot could almost feel her apprehension at the thought of having to fight for her freedom and it was tearing him apart that they might've avoided this situation if only he'd paid a little more attention to the con.

Eliot was already on his way up the building opposite, planning to take the same route Parker had, it being the fastest way to get to her, and was updated by the hacker on the situation... it made him want to pound on the elevator buttons to make the godforsaken thing run faster. He'd just reached the roof of the building opposite... Preparing the harness that he always had under his shirt nowadays and thanking god that Parker had compelled him to learn base jumping and rappelling from her in the past months they'd been together, Eliot attached the zipline to his vest.

"Hardison, I know we didn't hack into their security system fully while Parker did her run because we didn't wanna raise any red flags... Can you bypass the motion detectors, vibration sensors and laser fields now?... I don't wanna have to deal with them now...I need to get to Parker as soon as I can and I don't want anything slowing me down."

"On it already my man... They'll all be out of your way by the time you step foot onto that building... Just do your thing Eliot and get our thief back... BTW... How are you gonna get to the other building man?... You got no gear and I know you... You haven't done this before..."

The only answer Hardison got was a grunt of effort as Eliot tightened the loop of rope around his hand and securely held the extra length in his other. The rest of the team heard the hitter take a deep breath before he put his whole weight onto the rope and slid himself from one rooftop to the other, crossing a yawning gap of about a hundred meters at a jaw dropping height of 40 floors off the ground.

"Dang... This guy is like Double O somethin'... He can do everythin man..."

"Hardison... Focus... How's things with Parker...?"

Even though Eliot had done stuff like this before, it had always been with Parker by his side... now that he was alone, he knew that he needed all his concentration to get it right. He'd have to time it just right so that he could land on the roof properly instead of crashing into it. But as fate would have it, just seconds before his feet landed on the rooftop of Carter Security's office building, Eliot and the rest of the team heard Parker scurry around the office, trying to find a good hiding place. That made him lose concentration for a split second only, but that was enough. Eliot almost crashed headlong into the gravel coated rooftop, the small stones impacting on his body like miniature projectiles.

The rest of them winced as they heard his crash inside the van, but they made no comment as they could also see that the team of security guys outside the office had gotten bored of just standing there and were getting ready to break into the office.

"Eliot... Man... you okay?..."

A second later, the mastermind, the grifter and the hacker heaved a silent sigh of relief as they heard the hitter check in

"Yeah... fine... Are all the systems bypassed Hardison?"

"Yeah man... Everythin's ready for you..."

Even though Eliot knew that Hardison was the best in his job, he was extra cautious and made sure to have multiple exit strategies worked out by the time he'd reached the stairwell. Both he and Parker always liked to memorize the blue prints and floor plans of the target buildings that they'd have to hit, just so that they'd have multiple exit strategies planned and prepped. Lately, they'd started discussing different plans and strategies and by now, Eliot knew of every plan that they could utilize and every exit that would be prepped and ready for their use.

But sadly, he also knew that that piece of knowledge wouldn't be of much use to him today, because he now knew, as he was sure Nate did too, that their client had conned them from the beginning, luring them into this trap. For what reasons he still wasn't sure, but Eliot knew that getting himself and Parker out of this building in one piece would be one heck of a job in itself.

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><p><em><strong>AN: Hope everyone liked this chapter... review and tell me what you guys thought... Next chapter is gonna be even more tense and action packed... Eliot is gonna come face to face with an old enemy... and that's not even the biggest problem!... So stay tuned for more action... :)**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**MacyBear**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Hi!... Here's the next chapter... Hope you like it... not a lot of reviews for the last chapter... So I don't know whether I am on the right track... **_

_**Thanks to Jesco123, who did review the last chapter and left an awesome comment... You made my day! :) **_

_**About this chapter, I would like to clarify that I have nothing against Russians, they are very nice people... I needed a convincingly awesome bad guy and Mikhail Ivanevich was born. I just picked his nationality as Russian cuz Eliot seems to have spent a lot of time over there and has a lot of history and back stories featuring the Eastern Bloc as shown in the series... Misha's all mine and whatever he's doing is all on me... If you're named Mikhail Ivanevich, sorry... didn't mean to give your name to a mobster... don't take it personally.**_

_**Oh and I could be wrong... but I think 'koschka' means kitty in Russian... If somebody could clarify on that it would be great...**_

_**Disclaimer : I don't own anything related to the Leverage franchise... I do own Mikhail Ivanevich in this plot though**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 05<strong>

"Uh... Eliot I hate to rush you here but I think we're about to have some company... It seems like some bad ass Russian guy... really tall and has a... a scar the shape of a 'C' on his face... left side... dude just came up to the office where Parker is holed up... I am trying to get him on facial recognition but it's gonna take a minute or two..."

Eliot, who'd been trying his best to shuck his way out of the confining harness as fast as possible, stopped cold at the mention of the Russian. A slight shudder passed through the hitter as he closed his eyes tight, trying to get his breathing under control as he fought to stop his mind from replaying his past encounters with the Russian mobster standing five floors below him...

The last time Eliot had met Mikhail Ivanevich had been in Chechnya four years ago and that had been the time he'd given Mikhail the scar... But the scars the Russian and his henchmen had left on Eliot in return were far more numerous and life threatening. Eliot had escaped the Russian mobster by the skin of his teeth, managing to kill a bunch of his men before escaping in the ensuing melee... Eliot had been successful in retrieving the Blue Monkey from them, the world's largest star sapphire and the target he'd been sent after, but he'd been out of commission for about four months after that encounter, trying to get his broken body back in working shape.

The Russian and his henchmen were as ruthless as they came... And if they were here at Carter, it meant that the guy who was after them didn't just want them out of his way, he wanted them destroyed... slowly and painfully.

"Don't bother... It's Mikhail Ivanevich... or Misha as he's called. I... I know 'im"

Eliot didn't miss the two sharp breaths he heard over the comms at that name... One was the mastermind and the other, Parker... They were the only two who knew of his history with the Russian mob... And now, he was even more focused on getting Parker out of there before she got caught by the utterly ruthless Mikhail.

"You don't think there's any chance he's forgotten you Eliot?..."

The comment, though dry and capable of being taken as some sort of twisted attempt at humor, was full of concern for the hitter... that much he knew about the mastermind. Nate had been the man who'd helped Eliot for three of the four months he'd been in therapy...

"Nate... I hate to say something that you already know by now... There's nothing we can do about Mikhail right now... I have to go in and get Parker... But the guy who's doin all this... He knows us man... He knows almost everything about each and everyone of us... And this is a well thought out trap that's been sprung to catch all of us at the same time..."

He took a deep breath before continuing

"I would suggest that you cut and run... right now... See if you can save yourselves from whatever is planned for you. They knew that I would go in if they got Parker... They've got Ivanevich lined up for me... They've probably already hacked into whatever Hardison is doin'... Nate... you should get Sophie and Hardison and get out of here as soon as you can... I'll go after Parker and... we'll see... If all of us are still there after this, we'll meet up again..."

"E-Eliot..."

"Parker..."

"Shut up Eliot... and listen to me... You're always too stubborn for your own good... But I am not allowing you to get yourself beaten up for me today you hear that?... You have to leave now... Go with Nate and Sophie... and Hardison... I...I'll find a way to get out of here... Don't come here Eliot... Please..."

Parker, who showed almost no emotion most of the time, preferring to keep her mask of indifference on, sounded like she was a second away from crying

"Parker... honey... you know there's no way that's happenin' darlin'... I am not leaving you... whatever happens I am not gonna leave you here with these goons to fend for yourself... I am the guy that protects the team... The guy that protects you. Okay?..."

The hitter's voice softened a lot on the next sentence as he coaxed the thief

"Remember what I told you the other day?... I am not goin' anywhere darlin'... Not even if you yourself push me away... you're stuck with me... whether you like it or not babe... Now jus' do what you do best... Get whatever you can against these guys and sit tight. I'll come an' get ya in a minute... k?"

"No Eliot... no... You can't do this... I don't want you to get hurt anymore because of me... I... I know what Ivanevich did to you the last time and I don't think I can stand it if something like that happens to you again... Please Eliot... listen to me... Please... If you have any feelings for me like you say you do... you'll stay away Eliot..."

Even as she said it, Parker knew that there was no way Eliot would leave her to the mercy of the Russian mob... She didn't know whether to be happy that he would rescue her or to be scared for what he would have to go through before he could rescue her. She was almost beating herself up over the fact that all this could've been avoided if only she'd trusted Eliot's and her instincts or at least been more careful about her entry.

The desperation he heard in Parker's voice almost made Eliot want to punch something... or someone. He'd never heard his thief sound so scared, so desperate and so unsure of everything. That made him sure... Sure that there was no way his thief was gonna get hurt today. He wouldn't let Ivanevich or anybody else lay a finger on Parker. He was the protector of this team and he would keep his Parker safe till there was a breath left in his body.

"Nate... I'm goin' in... I won't be able to stay in contact with you after you go out of the comm's range... So..."

The ex-insurance agent turned mastermind cut in as incisively as ever

"Eliot... of all the people you should know... We are a team now... more than a team in fact... There's no way we're leaving any one behind. No way we're going to go anywhere until you and Parker are safe. Whatever they have planned for us, it will be easier for us to deal with if all of us are together. So we're not going anywhere... Deal with it... and just focus on getting our thief and getting out of there. Got it?... We'll be around... keep in touch"

"Got it Nate... Thanks man..."

Jumping down four steps at a time, Eliot made his way down to the 36th floor quickly, taking the stairs instead of waiting for the elevators. Quickly, he was on the corridor leading to the offices of Pierce Carter, where Parker was supposed to be. But as the offices came into view, Eliot stumbled to a stop.

There was no one there. Not a single soul visible, no thugs, no Ivanevich and most importantly, no Parker. The office looked pristine, as if no one had tried to break in... or out for that matter.

"Yo man E... Watcha doin' man?... Badass here is getting ready to blow the door down... Where are you?"

That stopped the hitter cold for a minute.

"Hardison... can you check the elevators again and tell me where the one Parker took is?"

"El... Why you askin' that?..."

"Jus' tell me dammit..."

The snap in the hitter's voice got through to the hacker in the van sooner than the demand itself...

"I took the stairs... And I am at the 36th floor... Right in front of the office of Pierce Carter... and there's no one here guys... Hardison... where is she?"

"Wha..?... Hold on a second... I am just checking all security camera footage right now... I... I don't get it... I can't see you but I see the floor where the scary dude is gonna break in into the office room... but I don't see you man and I can't see Parker cuz she's inside the office and they don't have cams there..."

"Shit... Hardison I need you to check the elevators... where is the one Parker took?"

"Ye...Yeah... one second..."

The hacker's voice stopped abruptly as he discovered that the backdoor he'd used to gain access to the security system inside the Carter building had disappeared. There was no way to get into the cameras, the security blue prints or the building data now that his in into the system was gone. Never had the hacker been back-hacked before and this experience was more frightening than he'd expected. The fact that two of his team mates were inside that building now, depending on his help in figuring out the situation didn't help alleviate the fear or the tension.

"What is goin' on Hardison?"

"Th... I..."

"Dammit Hardison jus' tell me where she is..."

Eliot hadn't even finished speaking when the whole team heard the sounds of a door clicking open and footsteps progressing into a room through their comms. But that wasn't what caught their attention. What caught... and held their attention, was the extremely familiar female voice over the comm system.

The team, heard a flurry of movements, sounds of somebody hitting someone else, there were all the sounds associated with a fight. Had it been any other situation, he might've smiled proudly at the prowess his girlfriend and student was showing as it sounded to Eliot as if Parker was holding her own, delivering blow after blow and taking men down as they came at her. Suddenly, the balance of the fight changed as someone new and extremely experienced entered the fray and the team almost flinched as one, as they heard one soft grunt of pain after another from the blonde thief.

"Where are you trying to go little koschka?... You are going to stay with me... and we wait for your dashing hero to come and rescue you... I am waiting for you Spencer... Come and find me..."

That single sentence delivered in heavily accented english managed to do what not a lot of people had done before. It sent a chill down Eliot Spencer's spine. Not because he was afraid... Eliot Spencer, hitter extraordinaire, the born protector never ever got afraid... But he knew that this time he couldn't go in his usual way, busting heads till he found Misha... He had to play it the mobster's way because they had the one thing that would make him rethink his strategy... they had his thief... Mikhail Ivanevich was after him and he had Parker.

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><p><em><strong>AN: Ow... I know some of you want to hit me right now for putting our thief and hitter in such a bad position... Relax... like I said... I am a nice girl and I believe in the superpowers that Parker is convinced Eliot Spencer has... So all will end well... with a few twists and turns along the way... So stay tuned for more action. **_

_**Review your thoughts people... I need to know if I am goin in the right direction with this...**_

_**lotsa luv and fortune cookies**_

_**Macybear**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hi!... Here's the next chapter... This one's a step back from all the tension that's been building up as we check up on everyone's favorite hitter's past. Sorry for delaying the progress of the story but you can totally blame my muse, who forced me to write the background chapter... Plus, I wasn't really in the mood to write the major whumpage that we're gonna be seeing in the next chapter... I promise!... Sorry Eliot and Parker... it's gonna be a tough ride in the next coupla chapters... :| **_

_**Anyways, thank you all for such a great response to this and all my other Leverage fics... hope you like all the future fics and chapters the same way too. Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys make my day when you review... bear hugs and Eliot's Choco-chip cookies to you all... On with it now...**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 06<strong>

Taking a deep breath, Eliot turned around where he stood. It was clear from what he'd heard from Hardison about the camera footage that Parker was somewhere on the floor either above or below the one he was on. Since he couldn't depend on Hardison to give him a location, the hitter had to do it the old fashioned way. This was when his battle honed senses came into play.

"Guys... I am gonna need you to stop making any noise for a minute now. No sounds at all... got it?"

He knew that Parker still had her comm in, knew that Mikhail Ivanevich also knew that, had probably got someone to hack into their communication frequency and was probably listening to everything they said since the beginning of the con, but there was nothing he could do about it now. All of Eliot's considerable focus and energy was now concentrated on a single thing. Getting to Parker as soon as possible. He couldn't let her remain in the power of the Russian mobster for long.

Closing his eyes, Eliot centered his body and mind the way an old man had taught him eons ago.

It had been fourteen years ago, he'd been a part of a commando unit on infiltration duty in Northern Japan. The unit had been formed of a dozen fresh new recruits along with a couple of old timers, mainly to give the new recruits a taste of what actual operations were like. They weren't supposed to find a cell of Chinese arms dealers, but they had stumbled upon it. Even as they tried to retreat without losing men, Eliot and another guy had gotten shot. Forced to leave them there in order to save the rest of the team, the unit had abandoned the two injured men. Later at the base, the two of them had been reported missing and presumed dead.

Though the other young man had died, Eliot had been fortunate enough to be alive when he was found by an old Japanese man, who was the owner of the rice paddy fields he'd lain bleeding in. The Japanese guy had taken him home, cleaned and taken care of the bullet wounds with the expertise of a medical doctor and had permitted him to stay till Eliot got better. That day, Eliot Spencer had been shot thrice. Once in the right shoulder, once in the left thigh and once in his back, very close to the spinal column. He'd been in an enormous amount of pain for a long, long time but he'd fought with it as much as he could.

After being immobile for about a month, Eliot had become better, much by the force of his will. It had taken a lot of work and exercise to become fully functional again, but Eliot wouldn't have been able to do it had it not been for Li-san, the old man who'd saved his life. Li-san had not only nursed Eliot back to health, he'd also taught him various exercises that would condition his body and bring it back to working order. Eliot had learnt Kung-fu and a host of other martial arts along with Tai-chi at the hands of the old Li-san, who it turned out, used to be the master of a dojo before he retired to lead the life of an ascetic in the mountains.

Over the course of six months, Eliot not only got back his health and mobility, he'd gotten stronger, faster and certainly more capable. Previously, he'd known just enough of the Japanese language to get by but now, he was fully conversant with the language and its calligraphy. He'd also learnt Chinese, the art of cooking and knife skills from the old master. By the end of six months, Eliot had started calling him Ojii-san, which meant 'grandfather' in Japanese. Eliot would've stayed back in Japan with the old man, who'd started out as his master and had slowly become much more than that, had it not been for Li-san passing away in his sleep one night.

Never had Eliot Spencer felt more alone in his life. Not when he'd left home to get away from an abusive father, not when he'd left the United States with the army to get away from the memories of Aimee, and certainly not when he'd been left shot and bleeding to death by his so called team half a year ago. Deciding that he had nothing left for him in Japan, Eliot had made the journey back to America, going back to doing the one thing he'd known all his life... Working with horses.

He'd actually worked as a trainer at the stables of a man who'd turned out to be a mob boss for about a year. The gangster had taken Eliot in as one of his crew after finding out one day that he'd taken down a gunman who'd been sent to kill him in just a few seconds. Since then, Eliot had worked both with crews and alone, quickly gaining the reputation of being the best retrieval expert in the business. He'd had almost no social life for the period of time he'd been working because whatever down time he'd gotten was spent in getting better at what he did and learning new ways of fighting wherever, whenever he could.

With better understanding of his own self and the world around him, dissatisfaction at the jobs he was doing had set in and he'd gone back to the army. This time, he'd served in the commando unit for two years before being moved to Black-Ops for another three. Again, cynicism due to seeing wars up close and death on a daily basis had set up his wanderlust again and Eliot had left the army to go back into retrieval and travelling the globe.

Judo, Jujitsu, kick-boxing, Krav Maga, boxing, Aikido and so many other styles of fighting found themselves being listed on Eliot's repertoire over the years. He'd also learnt many new and rare styles of fighting wherever he went on jobs... ending up with Kuta from Egypt, an ancient style of fist fighting, Rumi Maki from Peru, Boabom from a retrieval trip to Tibet and the bare basics of Varma kalai, an ancient Indian style of fighting that was based on in depth knowledge of the human nervous system.

Over the years, Eliot had trained so much and learned so many different ways of fighting that it had almost become an involuntary action like breathing. Even though violence became a way of life for Eliot, he'd not forgotten the teaching of his master and mentor Li-san. It had been the old man's contention that violence was never the answer to everything. Most things were and could be resolved by the force of the mind itself.

So, as he liked to call it, violence became his 'appropriate response' to things that couldn't be resolved otherwise. Eliot never went in kicking down the front door, guns blazing. He was a thinking fighter, preferring to wait it out, pick his moments and take down the opponent by choosing to maximize on his flaws rather than by brute force.

That and the reputation he'd gained as a retrieval expert had been what had gotten him involved with the Leverage Associates team. At the beginning, he'd been very wary of working as a part of a team after such a long time, but after pulling off their first job, however haphazardly, Eliot had to agree that there was something about this crew. Some sort of weird dynamic that wasn't a usual part of normal team psyche. So he'd stayed... part of the team but always with one foot out the door, not ready to let anyone in to his personal life, not ready to trust anyone... anyone besides Nathan Ford that is.

He knew that if anyone in the business could be trusted, it was Nathan Ford. He'd been notorious among the people in Eliot's business as the 'thorn in your backside insurance guy', who was possibly incorruptible. Nate had actually been the reason that Eliot had agreed to come on board. He'd been curious as to why a straight as a ruler ex-insurance guy would need a band of thieves. He'd stayed because he'd been intrigued by the man himself and the others in the group... Particularly the thief. She'd been a bundle of crazy, that was sure, but she'd also been one of the most professional and focused people he'd come across.

Then he'd found that even though they were both as different as chalk and cheese at first glance, they weren't all that different underneath. Parker had found that she liked being around the gruff, protective hitter. It had started with teasing and trying to get a rise out of him but had evolved into a lot more with time and so had started one of the first lasting relationships that either of them had ever had in their lives.

Over the next couple of years of working together and spending time off the job too, the two of them came to know each other almost as much as they knew themselves. Parker understood just what Eliot was communicating when he was silent, which was a lot of times and Eliot from his side, understood just why Parker was Parker and let her be herself, never trying to change her or judge her in any way.

When the shift had happened from friends to something more they couldn't tell you even if they wanted. It had been after one of Parker's safe houses had been broken into that she'd spent a lot of time at Eliot's apartment, and the routine had somehow just extended to all other areas of their lives. They were very comfortable around each other by then and the comfort and understanding had morphed into something more complex, more beautiful and a whole lot more scary by the time Parker had found a replacement for her warehouse.

Even though she had a house of her own now, Parker usually spent most of her time at Eliot's penthouse apartment during weekdays, and the weekend with him at his farmhouse just outside town. Even though they were a team, all of them still preferred to keep their private lives and homes to themselves, at least most of them did. Nate couldn't cuz his home was now their offices and Hardison wouldn't cuz he was just like that... a people person who liked to have his friends around him all the time. Parker and Eliot were intensely personal and territorial about their things and as a result, no one on the team was aware that Eliot had two homes, one in the city and the other, which he used only when he had to get away for sometime.

The first time he'd shown Parker around his house had been an unforgettable experience. She'd been gaping at everything, keeping up a litany of one sentence... 'You actually have a real house' Yeah... it had grown old pretty soon and Eliot had been hard pressed to not growl at her by the time they toured his library. Don't act so surprised... he wasn't just hired muscle. Eliot liked to read... a lot, and that was proved by the libraries both his residences had.

Over time, Parker had adjusted admirably to living in a 'real' house as she insisted on calling it even now. She'd even learnt about taking care of some of the plants he had in his extensive gardens back at the farmhouse. In return, Eliot had gotten introduced to base jumping... something he'd never have thought he'd like cuz he was the kind of person that liked to have their feet firmly planted on the ground. But somehow, Parker had made the whole experience worth it, with her unbounded enthusiasm and her absolute love for the sport.

Now, Eliot had no qualms in joining Parker when she wanted to jump from skyscrapers for a thrill and Parker knew which plants had to be watered twice a week and which ones not to touch if you didn't want a host of thorns embedded in your fingers. Ouch... that had been a long and incredibly painful evening. Thugs with guns had nothing on thorns from a cactus. Now Parker knew the hard way that you didn't pet a cactus, no matter how cute it looked in the pot.

Eliot had also started teaching Parker the basics of cooking, which she'd picked up fairly easily once the hitter found the right way to teach her. Let's just say that it involved visual aids, detailed instructions about which measuring vessels to use because when a recipe called for a cup, it didn't mean just any cup... not that anybody found it important to mention that in their books... also, when the recipe thingy mentioned a spoonful, you had to use the same sized spoon throughout the process... again, something no one had found worth mentioning. How was someone supposed to know that if they'd never cooked before?...

Parker had learnt all that the day she'd tried baking cookies while Eliot was out grocery shopping and ended up burning half his kitchen down. It hadn't been much, mainly smoke and water damage from the sprinklers, but Eliot hadn't been amused. Somehow they'd sent away the firemen without them finding any of Eliot's hidden weapons, which were liberally scattered throughout both his residences.

That was something that Parker loved finding and changing their hiding places, just to frustrate the hitter, whenever she was feeling bored or particularly angry after an argument. Oh and those were abounding... Both Parker and Eliot were strong minded, stubborn creatures who lived by set values and routines. Sharing wasn't natural to them and having strong feelings for each other didn't do much to change their personality. So a lot of voluble arguments resulted, but they somehow or the other got settled quickly, eventually ending up in the bedroom. Not that either of them minded it all that much... or at all.

By some sort of silent agreement between them, both Eliot and Parker had refrained from mentioning their relationship to anyone else, even the rest of the team. Eliot kept saying that what they did off the job on their own time was nobody's business but theirs, but Parker was sure that he was just as scared about admitting to actually caring about someone else to the rest of the world. In their line of work, if someone who shouldn't know it, came to know things like that, someone usually ended up hurt... or dead. So it made sense to the two of them that no one else know about their relationship until they were ready to tell them.

But they hadn't taken into account the thirst for revenge some people had... they hadn't thought of the really long memories bad guys had, especially of times when they'd been outplayed. They'd failed to take into account the fact that they could be under surveillance by someone other than law enforcement, someone who was bent on destroying them if it was the last thing they did...

And that was what had brought Eliot to this moment. This moment where all he could think about was that Parker was in the clutches of one of the most brutal, vicious men he'd had the misfortune of crossing, and that he would stop at nothing to get to Eliot, wouldn't have any qualms hurting or killing the people Eliot cared about... loved, to get him to come to him. Mikhail Ivanevich had to be stopped once and for all and Eliot knew that he had to bring into play everything he'd ever learned, every bit of skill he had. Every molecule of his self was concentrated on the objective of getting Parker out of danger as quickly as possible while making sure that no one had the capability to hurt any member of his family ever again.

Eliot the team player, Eliot the cook, Eliot the singer, the boyfriend, the rancher, the cowboy... all of them disappeared to be left with Eliot Spencer the hitter, Eliot Spencer the fighter, the best damn retrieval specialist in the whole world, the guy who could break every bone in your body with one hand tied behind his back, the guy who could make you wish you'd never been born.

This was Eliot the protector and he would make sure that what was his, was absolutely safe. His family, his team was his priority now. Their safety and security were more important than anything else, even himself. He would make sure Parker and the rest of them were secure and out of danger... or he would die trying.

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><p><em><strong>AN : Okay. So that was it. Eliot's back story... Now we have him all angry and primed to go bash people up and exact some quality revenge. Stay tuned for a lot of action in the next chapter... And don't forget to review what you thought about this one... Reviews are like a nice, long hug from Eliot Spencer... ;)**_

_**Lotsa luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hi guys... Here I am with the next chapter. As I promised, it is chock full of action... and literally bleeding due to all the whump-age. I've never written whumpage before and I just found that I hate putting my characters in pain. :'( **_

_**Anyways... I hope I've done a good enough job to keep you all interested. I guess this wll be the penultimate chapter of this story... I will be wrapping it up in the next one... So plz review and tell me what you thought.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Closing his eyes, Eliot Spencer centered himself and honing his senses, concentrated on finding out exactly where Parker was. He was praying to every god he could think of that Parker had understood the significance of his last comment. He knew that if there was anyone that knew him well enough to pick up his cues, it was her.

His vision now not distracting him, Eliot's sense of hearing sharpened and slowly the he could hear every single sound, every bit of noise that was present all around him. Starting from the soft sound of his own breathing, the soft-heavy thudding of his heart, the humming of the elevators, the various sounds of electronics being used, the sounds of his team mates' breathing... everything that could be heard by a human ear.

At first, it was all one big blur... a cacophony of noises, but slowly and surely, Eliot could identify and separate each and every little sound from the other. Finally, almost a minute into the process, he became aware of very, very faint thudding... coming from somewhere above him. It sounded as if someone was very slightly tapping their boot into the floor... an un-carpeted floor by the sound of it. He knew it was Parker trying to help him out.

He also knew that it shortened his time frame to get to her because, knowing Mikhail Ivanevich, there was no way he would let Parker get away with helping his enemy get to where he was. Taking a deep breath, Eliot started to run. He barely remembered his way back to the stairwell but turning a corner, he was forced to come to a complete stop. There, blinking unashamedly red at him was the electronic key card lock on a two inch thick access door, with two more such doors behind it.

He remembered passing three electronic doors on his way in... He knew that Hardison had made them open for both him and Parker when he'd hacked into the system. But now that Hardison could no longer help him get through them, Eliot had to figure a way out himself... and soon.

"Oh look at that... Isn't that cute?... The little canary is trying to help Spencer. Very nice Spencer... I like her. She has a lot of spirit... and I am going to enjoy breaking her."

There was a pause as the Russian mobster ran his hand along Parker's golden hair

"Into tiny little pieces..."

The short sentence was followed by a small squeal of pain from Parker as he fisted his hand in her hair and pulled sharply.

"Misha, I know you're listening to me. Stop it Misha. Your problem is with me and I am coming to you. So just stop goin' after my team."

The sound of Ivanevich chuckling filtered into Eliot's and the rest of their ears, sending a chill down their spines. Here was a man who was capable of anything and everything to get what he wanted... And what he wanted, was Eliot Spencer. And not just that... He wanted Eliot Spencer, dead... A slow, utterly painful death.

"Eli-"

The word was snatched from Parker's mouth as she felt a slap strong enough to snap her head around sting across her face, a ring on his hand opening up a gash on her cheek making her bleed.

"Who said you could talk?... No one opens their mouth while Misha is talking. You open your mouth again and I will be forced to break one thin little finger for every word. Do you understand?"

At Parker's silent nod, the mobster turned his attention back to the comm in his ear, slightly bigger than what the Leverage team used. To his amusement, he could hear the sounds of an utterly frustrated Spencer trying to break down the electronic doors.

One floor below, Eliot was putting all his strength into kicking the damn door down. The frames were like two inches thick and he wasn't making much headway. The glass was also shatterproof but it now seemed like a better option that kicking down three doors like this one. So, pulling off his shirt, Eliot wrapped it around his fist like a boxing glove, protecting his hand and punched the glass with all his remaining strength.

There was a slight reverberating sound as the glass took the strength of his punch but still remained intact. Eliot was growing very frustrated and very angry.

"Yeeaah..."

With a short shout, he pulled his right leg back, folded it and unleashed a straight kick at the pane, cracking the glass with the sharp burst of energy that he unleashed on it. After that, punching the broken glass out and jumping through the hole to the corridor was child's play. He was aware that above him, Mikhail Ivanevich also knew that he'd just managed to kick one door down.

'Okay Spencer... one down. Two more to go.'

He'd already heard the sound of Parker being slapped around and had barely restrained himself from wasting energy shouting at Ivanevich or punching anything else. He couldn't afford to waste energy blowing off steam. He had to conserve every bit of his anger, energy and concentration for when he had to face Mikhail Ivanevich.

Eliot knew that the Russian was a sneaky bastard and wasn't above using whatever underhanded trick to get the upperhand in any contest. Eliot would've to not only get rid of him and his hooligans, he would also have to make sure that Parker or anyone else in his team wasn't hurt and he would've to do it fast.

He was running out of time and every precious second he wasted, Eliot lost one more tiny little bit of his team to the bad guys. The only way he could get through this was to become what he had tried so hard not to be for such a long time.

There had been a time when he'd been codenamed 'The Beast' by his mates in the army. He'd had a major temper control problem and he'd just gotten around it by learning to channelize it into his violence in short bursts, rather than try to get to the root of the problem and get rid of the anger.

When he was in his 'Beast' mode, Eliot Spencer felt nothing. Neither blows nor bullets... All he saw was one thing... The goal. To eliminate anything and anyone that stood in his path. He'd become a killing machine that felt nothing other than rage and hatred towards whatever he knew he had to destroy.

It had taken him years to control his rage and the side effects of this were very heavy... both physical as well as mental. The injuries that he obtained while in his rage wouldn't matter until the second he finished the job. But after that, once the rush of adrenaline was gone, it literally left him too weak to even move. And that had resulted in many tight situations for him earlier, where he'd escaped by the skin of his teeth.

And worse than the physical results of his rage were the ones that stayed with him. The psychological impact of his rage and the lives that he had taken had weighed heavily on Eliot Spencer for the rest of his days. They still stayed with him in the form of vivid nightmares that haunted his dreamscapes night after night. It was one of the main reasons Eliot had trained himself to need no more than 90 minutes of sleep a day. If you didn't sleep, you couldn't dream.

But on the rare occasions that he did sleep more than that, he would invariably see a clear video of one of the incidents that had taken place when he was in the army and had been needed to kill a whole roomful of people that he had been informed were terrorists and armed to the teeth. He and his team had prepared carefully for this operation and had everything had gone as planned. The only thing that was wrong was the information that they'd been given.

Somehow, the terrorist camp had known that they were coming and were able to mount a counter attack and Eliot had lost more than half the men in his team that night before he had voluntarily made himself lose the tight control he held the beast inside him in, and letting loose, had killed 23 terrorists singlehandedly, razing most of their camp to the ground before the back up team had arrived.

He'd been given bravery awards for his services during that operation but they meant nothing to him... just rusty pieces of metal that lay in the back of a drawer in his dresser, under a false bottom along with other unbearable souvenirs of a previous life... A life that no longer was. A life he would have to bring back again... for the sake of his team... for the sake of the woman he knew he loved more than anyone or anything else.

Eliot could hear Nate saying something very softly into the comms. He didn't know whether Nate was talking to him or Parker or even Ivanevich. All Eliot could see now was the red that was building up in his vision.

For the third time in his life since meeting Li-san, Eliot disregarded the old man's teachings and let his rage build. He fed the anger deliberately, getting his emotions to a level where he knew there only existed a tenuous thread of control. For the first time in a long time, Eliot relished the raw power of his anger instead of fearing its repercussions. Letting the beast inside him loose, Eliot put his booted foot through the second pane of glass and it went through as if this pane was made of spun sugar rather than heavy duty shatter proof glass.

He made quick work of the door and was just through it when he heard Mikhail talk again. While Nate's voice hadn't gotten through the anger before, this one got through loud and clear... and it only served to build his already raging out of control anger.

"Eliot... I know you can hear me... And I know you know where I am. You also know that I am a very impatient man and I do like to be kept waiting. So you have 30 seconds. Get your ass in here or your little koschka here feels a lot of pain... Trust me Eliot... I have my ways. 30 seconds okay?"

Eliot had barely snapped out of it when he heard another sound that made his blood run cold. The sound of a boot kicking someone and Parker's voice screaming as Eliot knew her ribs were broken... probably courtesy of a steel toed boot.

"Tsk... Tsk... I am so sorry. I told my... assistant to wait for 30 seconds but I guess he... what do you say... misunderstood. What can I do?... I might as well enjoy this before you get here Eliot. After all, I need some warming up before I take care of you..."

Through all this, Eliot was busy kicking down another door that was in his way and jumping up the stairs how many ever he could manage at a time. Dimly, he could hear the harsh breathing of Nate and Hardison in the background. They sounded as if they were running and Sophie was sobbing uncontrollably... but he couldn't worry about that... it almost didn't process in the face of his focus on Mikhail. Till now, he'd been focused on saving Parker. Now he was focused on destroying Mikhail and his gang.

He was up the stairs in the blink of an eye and running to the corridor where the offices were supposed to be. He'd heard more screams from Parker, this time they were even louder and more heart wrenching. But he didn't even stop to think as to what the cause for those screams was. He knew that he wouldn't want to be dwelling on Parker and her injuries now. He had to get to Mikhail and his goons and kill each and every one of them for even daring to touch his family.

He'd just turned a corner when he found himself running headlong into three of Mikhail's trained guard dogs... his fighters. The normal Eliot Spencer would've stopped, thought about what was the best way to take them down and would've done it... cleanly and correctly. This Eliot Spencer wasn't wasting any of his brain capacity on this... he was fighting purely on instinct now.

The beast from within had been unleashed in all its bloody glory and was reveling in the freedom to cause mayhem. It was quick and it was dirty. By the time the three fighters could stop to take a fighting stance, one of them was on the ground with a shattered kneecap, the other getting kneed in the stomach while he got an elbow right on his spine, rendering him immobile.

The third had slightly more time to deal with the sheer rage that was Eliot Spencer and so he was more successful... marginally at least. He had the time and opportunity to get in one punch underneath Eliot's guard before he too met the ground in a dead faint from a Spencer head butt, his arm laying beside him, useless... twisted in a bizarre angle.

Eliot was marginally aware of more pained whimpers issuing from Parker's comm while he was dealing with the welcoming committee. It seemed as if she had no more energy in her to even scream. The beast temporarily took the backseat as Eliot's eyes cleared of the manic rage for a second.

"Hold on baby... I'm there."

Jumping over the now useless guards, Eliot once more ran towards the offices that he knew Parker was inside. Outside the doors, he was met by two more guys he made quick work of and tearing open the door, Eliot was met with a sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. A sight that made all his nightmares seem like a little boy's fear of monsters under his bed. Because this... This was what he truly feared. This was what killed him... on the inside. This... was what made him realize his life was now worthless.

Because he saw Mikhail Ivanevich and his hitter Ivan standing over the broken and bloodied figure of his thief. Parker lay crumpled on the floor, blood pooling around her thin body, her skin pale and lifeless, littered liberally with bruises. Slashes from a knife on her arms, her shoulder and her back. They were all shallow, meant to hurt and draw blood rather than kill.

But he could literally see the life ebb away from her... She was going away from him. Slipping away in front of his eyes and there was nothing he could do.

"Oh... I thought she was tougher than that... I actually hadn't meant to kill her so soon. I wanted you to be here to see her die. But I guess I will have to settle for this. Say goodbye to your little slut here Spencer and we can get to work on sending you down to hell... where you can be with her... forever."

Eliot stood frozen at the threshold of the room as he heard a chorus of 'NO's from Nate and Hardison and a heart wrenching scream of loss from Sophie. The Russian and his henchman laughed cruelly at that. If they were hoping to see one ounce of emotion from Eliot, they must've been disappointed.

Though the hitter knew he was broken inside, this time permanently, he couldn't let his focus get blurred. He still had to protect the rest of his team, his family. He could mourn the loss of his soul later... He could let his spirit die along with his little thief... but after he had finished the job.

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><p><em><strong>AN : You don't know me well enough by now if you think I am gonna let Parker die... Seriously... I had enough trouble putting her through a beating, I have no plans to let her die for... oh I don't know... let's say another 60 years at least. I mean come on... Can't you just see old but still crazy as a bat Parker teaching her grand kid the secret to picking locks?... Awww... So cute. :)**_

_**So plz review your thoughts on this chapter and all others... Keep reading and reviewing... Your support means everything :)**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N:Hi there!... I know... I know... I said that this was the last chapter... but this thing seems to have a mind of its own. So here's revenge... Eliot Spencer style. All loose ends will be tied up in the next and... the 'real' last chapter... **_

_**Thank y'all so much for so many and such awesome reviews for the last coupla chapters. Keep up the great work guys and don't forget to review this chapter also.. :)**_

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><p><em><em>**Chapter 8**

The man that was standing before Mikhail Ivanevich was Eliot Spencer... but somehow, he was not. The Spencer that Misha had known so many years ago was a hot headed fighter that never associated himself with anything or anyone because it gave him the edge in every fight, not having anything to lose.

But this guy... This man standing in front of him wasn't that Eliot Spencer anymore. This was a man with so much to lose... so much already lost that it had almost pushed him over the edge. Almost.

The sheer absence of any emotion in those eyes other than a cold, calculated all-consuming rage would've been quite scary to see in anyone's eyes but here, in Eliot Spencer's eyes, it was all too apparent and all too close to being out of control to make it seem even a little bit less scary.

Misha had spent his life in various Baltic countries, always being the big guy, the bully and getting things done his way by force. There was no opportunity for you to cooperate with him... he never gave you one. His first warning itself was broken bones. He was the kind that shot first and didn't even ask the questions later. Human life had always been considered expendable in his world.

He had become one of the most vicious hitmen in his line of work and had become notorious for his lack of control at using whatever methods he could to get what he wanted. He'd seen many others of his kind, none of them too worried about what they were doing to other people's lives, enjoying the control it gave them, the fear they were able to generate. But he'd never seen anything like this standing before him till now. This man... if he could be called that now, had sheer bloodlust in his eyes. Nothing else.

Misha had done his background work on Spencer before taking on this job. His research had shown him that the loner had finally started working with a team surprise, surprise!... and also, he was involved with one of them, a blonde girl that was supposed to be their thief. He'd heard about her... Parker or some other weird name. She was supposed to be good... very good. In fact she was supposed to be as good at her job as he knew Spencer was at his.

He hadn't been unduly worried at catching them all together... the man who'd approached him had everything already laid down cleanly. All Misha had to do was catch the little bird and wait for Spencer to come in her rescue. The guy who contracted him for this job has told him that he could kill both of them before going for the other three, who were... let us say less inclined to put up a fight. All he wanted was the whole team wiped out.

Mikhail Ivanevich had been prepared for an angry and out of control Eliot Spencer... but what he was facing now was almost chilling in its lack of emotion. Both he and Ivan had their guns out in the blink of an eye, giving them the position of control... or so he thought. Ivan had grown cocky with the prospect of being the one that brought down Eliot Spencer and stepped in too close to Spencer. Just mere seconds later, Ivan was dead... lying in a broken heap at Spencer's feet. Had Misha not been on the other side of the gun, he'd have been looking at the hitter in front of him in awe.

All Ivan had done was step in close and a second later, Eliot had caught his wrist, broken it, broken his arm and made him drop the gun, kicked once at his right leg, broken that and finally, to deliver the killing blow, he'd taken the other hitter's neck in his hands and twisted hard till they both heard the loud pop of the vertebral column snapping. All this had been done without even looking at Ivan. It was instinctual response. Eliot Spencer had become a killing machine.

Misha knew that he had to press every bit of advantage he had if he had to get out of this without any damage. He had a team of his guys waiting to back him up when needed. So he unobtrusively signaled them on his comm system and raising his gun calmly, shot at the man that had previously been known as Eliot Spencer. He didn't take a head shot because he didn't want Spencer dead so quickly. He wasn't going to let Spencer get away so easy. The loss of the Blue Monkey had cost Misha dearly and he was going to make sure that Spencer paid for all his mistakes... in full amount.

The bullet left the gun and plunged itself into the flesh of Eliot's right shoulder. But the hitter didn't even flinch. Nothing in his expression or stance told the Russian that a bullet had even hit him. Misha knew that he had a whole bunch of trained fighters coming to him in less than a minute but for the first time in his life, Misha feared that they might be too late. He feared that he'd already be dead when they got there. Spencer was advancing on him as if he hadn't just shot a 9mm into his shoulder.

Trying to tamp down the panic that threatened to make itself known, Ivanevich pulled the trigger once again, another bullet, this time lodged itself in Spencer's thigh. Other than a slight stumble, again, the hitter didn't show any reaction. He just kept coming at the Russian. Misha almost sighed in relief when he heard a bunch of footsteps running in their direction. The other guys came but after that it was quite a blur.

It was almost like Spencer was untouchable or something. There was a cyclone of human flesh swirling around Eliot Spencer and he was at the eye of the storm, giving full freedom to the beast inside. Misha could almost see the outlines of the larger than life beast, baying for blood... in Spencer's shadow.

The feeling of panic that had threatened to make itself known before came back in full force and this time, it was here to stay. Misha was scared for his safety for the first time because, in under a minute, Eliot Spencer had single handedly taken down 15 of his men, not even bothering to react to all the injuries they'd managed to give him before he incapacitated them.

Now that all the henchmen were down, Eliot turned his attention to his goal - Mikhail Ivanevich. No matter what happened tonight, he would die. Ivanevich could take a head shot at Eliot tonight and he would still walk up to the Russian and kill him. Such was the force of his rage. No one... absolutely no one touched his family and got away with it. He was going to make an example of the Russian tonight. To tell everyone that this... was what happened when you dared to touch what was Eliot Spencer's.

As he advanced on the Russian who was all alone now, he could see the fear grow in the man's eyes. The beast inside Eliot was rejoicing at the sight, the opportunity to spread a little more mayhem before it could be put away. Baring his teeth in a twisted and gruesome representation of a grin, the hitter continued advancing on the man who was fast becoming undone, now that his hired muscle was all gone.

As soon as Eliot was within reach of the mobster, he effortlessly plucked the gun out of the man's hand and turning it upon him, fired every bullet in the magazine at the wall behind him. When Eliot was done, there were 9 bullet holes in the wall, almost creating an outline of Ivanevich's body in it. And the Russian was understandably nervous, because almost all the bullet holes were in the wall barely an inch away from his body. The plaster flying off the wall had peppered his suit and Mikhail was now covered in a fine layer of white dust.

Eliot put his right hand up, unmindful of the pain in his shoulder and caught hold of the Russian's throat. Squeezing without any mercy, he pushed the flailing man up onto the wall, the anger giving him the inhuman strength to lift a man that was taller, heavier than him with one hand, even with a bullet lodged in that shoulder. The choking noises coming from Ivanevich weren't affecting the hitter a single bit and he continued to push him up the wall, his hand at the man's throat till the Russian's feet were dangling a couple of inches off the floor.

Had Eliot been in his normal state, he might not have been able to do it at all but the beast inside was urging him on, the blankness descending on his mind not worrying about possibilities and the laws of physics that prevented him from being able to achieve something like this under normal conditions. The beast reveled in the feeling of having Ivanevich claw at his hands, struggling for air... but it was not enough. Letting him go with a grunt, Eliot let the man fall to the ground, clutching at his neck and coughing.

He didn't give the hitman a moment's reprieve before blows that could knock out steel walls were raining on his body unrelentingly. Eliot was a force of nature that couldn't be stopped by now. His body was almost acting separately from his mind, his mind just a calm, removed spectator to the destruction his body was now responsible for. His mind would deal with the aftermath of this later... but right now, his body was in control and it was going to beat this lowlife excuse of a human to pulp. If there was anything beyond death, Mikhail Ivanevich was going to feel it today.

By the time Eliot was done some time later, all that was left of the formerly six foot one Russian mobster that made even seasoned hitters quail in fear, was a bloody heap of quivering muscles. The hitman would've been unable to do anything other than move his little finger even if he wanted to because that was probably the only part of his body that Spencer hadn't broken.

Mikhail Ivanevich was now in a world of pain... beyond rational thought, beyond any capability of action... but he wasn't dead. Eliot had left just enough of him so that he could feel every bit of pain from every injury he'd received. Ivanevich could've been begging for Eliot to kill him if he could get the strength to open his mouth and speak but he couldn't.

Now that Eliot had finished with Ivanevich, the anger bled out slowly... still not leaving him, he thought it might never leave him. As the anger left, his clarity and focus returned and with that returned feeling.

Eliot could finally feel even broken bone, every bullet lodged in his body, every torn muscle, every cut, every laceration. But the pain that overshadowed them all came from his broken heart. Just the sight of Parker's bloodied, broken body to his right was enough to make the hitter want to tear himself to pieces.

He'd failed. He'd failed to protect the one thing that could've saved him from himself... He'd not made it in time, he hadn't been able to keep his promise and now she was gone. His little thief was gone and he hadn't even told her how much she meant to him... How sometimes she was the only reason he came out of his self imposed mental prison. He'd never told her he loved her... and now, he'd never get a chance to.

Slowly, painfully, Eliot pulled his broken body to Parker's. Pulling her head into his lap, he softly brushed her fair hair off her face, slowly leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"I love you Parker... P-Please don't leave me."

He whispered and for the first time in his life, tears made their way down the hitter's face.

He hadn't cried when his father had beaten him everyday in drunken rages, he hadn't cried when his best friend had been killed in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan, he hadn't cried even when Li-san had passed away leaving him all alone in the world once more.

But now, he cried. He cried because he knew that one half of his soul was gone and even if he were to live through this, he would only exist afterwards. His reason to live, his reason to get up each day and face his life was gone now. Parker had been part of his life for only a couple of years now but even in such a short time, even shorter if one considered the fact that they'd only been together for a couple of months now, she'd managed to do something that no one else had done... not even Aimee.

Aimee had been the only one who'd come close to making a place for herself in Eliot's heart but then he'd grown up and found that she wasn't the person he thought she was. But Parker wasn't like that... What you saw was what you got with her. Even when he didn't like her in the beginning, Eliot had respected the thief for her honesty and straightforwardness.

After coming to know her well enough, Eliot had found her company if not the most relaxing, the most comfortable. The two of them never had any trouble understanding where the other was coming from. They'd never misunderstood each other... neither on the job nor off it. And somewhere along the way, his little thief had done what she did best and stolen it off of him... his heart.

How it had happened neither of them had a clue... but the gruff hitter and the socially awkward thief fit together like they'd been made for each other, which maybe they had.

But now, as Eliot sat slumped against the wall with Parker's head in his lap, tears streaming down his cheeks in silent apology that would never reach its intended recipient, he knew in his heart that he had no wish to get through this alive... no reason any more. It might've seemed defeatist to anyone seeing this scene from the outside, might've seemed uncharacteristic of the man everyone new Eliot Spencer to be, but he'd had enough.

He'd had enough of trying to outrun his enemies everyday, trying to outrun his nightmares every night... The only saving grace in his life had been his team... and now they were all under attack. Knowing that Nate was clever enough to make sure that whoever was hunting them wouldn't be able to get to Sophie and Hardison, Eliot slowly and peacefully welcomed the darkness that was engulfing him in its fold.

In his utter relief at not having to run anymore, he almost didn't notice the slight tightening of Parker's fingers on his, he almost missed didn't believe it when he felt her fingers twine with his and her lips form his name. Thoroughly weak and thready, but her pulse was still there.

Parker was still alive... His little thief was still with him and that was all the hitter registered. Ignoring the various mind numbing aches and pains shooting through his body at every movement, he leaned down to gather her closer in his arms, tightening his hold on her.

"Parker... baby hang in there... We'll get you out of here..."

"El-Eli..ot..."

"Shhh... It's alright darlin'... just hold on..."

Even speaking required a major effort on his part but Eliot was used to ignoring even life threatening injuries until he had made sure that his team was alright. Feeling a little guilty at not even worrying about Nate, Sophie and Hardison, he was about to check in with them when he heard Nate's voice loud and clear in his ear

"Hold on guys... We're almost there. We'll get you home safe okay?... Just hold on for me."

Eliot's brain faintly registered running footsteps, people coming through the door and gathering around him and Parker. The darkness was stronger now but he was trying to fight his way out of it. He couldn't understand... the more he fought it the stronger it seemed to become. He was slightly aware of being shifted, his body screaming in pain at the slightest movement. He resisted it with everything in him when they tried to separate him from Parker but then Nate's voice came again softly this time in his ear

"Don't worry... I got you, and I'll make sure that both of you are not separated. Okay? Now let go and let the paramedics do their job"

Even at the edge of unconsciousness, Eliot Spencer believed the words of Nathan Ford. He'd always believed in Nate, even when Nathan Ford had just been a name, a faceless entity that chased him across continents. He knew that whatever happened, the mastermind always had a plan to get them through in one piece. Just the fact that the team had chosen to come for him and Parker rather than cut loose and leave as soon as they could, reinvented his faith in the life he'd led for the past two years.

He knew that Nate had committed mistakes, that they had committed mistakes but the difference between them and others like them was that even though mistakes were committed, they never backed down, never gave up until the job was finished. So, he let go and sank into the peaceful oblivion, knowing that he and Parker were in good hands... that they would be safe when he woke up again.

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><p><em><strong>AN: So there it is. Hope you guys thought it was ok... Don't forget to review your thoughts... Each review is like one of those little bottles of coffee you get from Starbucks... Yumm... :) Absolute perfection for my caffeine and review starved brain. ;P**_

_**So keep reading and reviewing... :)**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Hi!... Here it is... The last full chapter of this fic. There is gonna be a short little epilogue after this, to add a bit of a kick at the end and set you guys up for the next season of our fav TV show... :D**_

_**I am gonna be posting both this and the epilogue on the same day so don't forget to check out both!**_

_**Thank you all for staying with this story and supporting me so much... I love all of you! :)**_

_**Now, on with it...**_

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><p><em><em>**Chapter 9**

It was dark. Not quite the 'I-can't-see-anything-and-I-am-scared' kind of darkness, but a weirdly comforting, numb kind of darkness. Eliot knew that he should be wondering just where the heck he was, what was he doing there and what had happened to him... a lot more if he could manage it, but fortunately, he was too tired to ask even a single question. Not that he was even sure that he was awake.

He could feel his body, it was lying on something soft, but not too soft... like a hospital bed. Oh f***!... He was back at a hospital. Stopping his brain from letting loose a barrage of some more four letter words at that, he concentrated on making more sense of his surroundings.

Eliot could feel a multitude of aches and pains radiating through his body with every labored breath he took, but the pain was kind of numbed... like when the doctors gave him morphine. F***! Who gave them the permission to drug him?... He hated being drugged and feeling out of control so much that he would gladly accept whatever degree of pain he had to suffer if he could get by without any pain medication.

He remembered going into the Carter building after Parker... Oh lord!... Parker... What had happened to her? He had to get up. He had to make sure she was alright. Eliot tried his best to move, tried to speak or at least open his eyes but his body was stubbornly refusing to cooperate. Unbearable pain radiated through him at every tiny movement he tried to make and his throat seemed blocked with something huge... he couldn't swallow, he couldn't breathe, this was turning into a nightmare all over again.

Eliot was struggling with everything inside him when he heard a multitude of voices. They were mostly unknown voices, tense, issuing orders all around, mixed in with some voices he knew... Nate, it seemed was there and... and the other voice was Parker!... Thank god she was alright. She seemed to be panicking at the moment and trying to get closer to him. He couldn't understand why she wasn't coming to him, her voice stayed at a distance.

But just listening to her voice and realizing that she wasn't dead was enough to make Eliot relax a bit. The doctors, who he belatedly realized had crowded around him, were working at getting a huge tube out of his throat, cleaning up the mucus buildup that the ventilator usually left behind and were checking to make sure he hadn't ripped up any stitches in his episode a minute ago. Vaguely, Eliot could hear someone speaking to Nate on to one side of him

"This is a good development Mr. Hansen. Your friend here had just started breathing on his own, so we've taken him off the ventilator. If he continues to recover at such a rapid rate, you might be able to take him home in a couple of weeks. I'll have to continue my rounds now. I will keep an eye on Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell... Don't you worry about anything. Now, if you will excuse me, I've got to go check up on my other patients. I'll come by in a couple of hours with some test results okay?"

"Thank you very much Doctor Barnes. I appreciate it"

Eliot didn't have time to even wonder about the ventilator and not breathing on his own till now before the morphine drip that had been strengthened by a nurse just now took effect and he floated down into oblivion again.

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><p>This time, it wasn't dark... at all. In fact, very bright light was shining in front of his eyes and Eliot was about to growl out for someone to shut the damn thing off when he felt a hand remove the needle sticking into his arm and put some tape in place. Slowly, the hitter started to hear noises... they resolved into voices... seconds later they were clear enough for him to distinguish between them. Sophie, Parker and one more female voice...<p>

Talking about some Mr. O'Connell and how his wife must love him so much that she hadn't left the room once since their getting to the hospital. Odd... The other woman was calling that guy Parker's husband and she didn't seem to mind. But why would Parker camp out at some random guy's hospital room he couldn't figure out and it was already making his head ache. Parker often had a way of doing that to him.

Breathing was much easier this time compared to the last, his body still screamed at every minute movement he attempted... not that he could move, but this time it was more of a 'I-got-hit-by-a-flying-tree' kind of pain rather than a 'I-got-run over-by-a-bunch-of-trucks-repeatedly' kind, that he'd had the last time he'd tried the same thing. Okay... he knew that it was the morphine and the painkillers talking but this felt better... way better.

He waited till the other woman who was in the room, a nurse he figured, left and cautiously opened his eyes. The vision was blurry, a result of not having used his eyes for quite some time... he didn't know how many days he'd spent here. As everything cleared out and came into focus, he could see that he was indeed in a hospital room, clad in a very thin hospital issue gown, various monitors attached to him and a whole lot of bandages covering about 60 percent of his body.

He must've taken a beating by the time he finished off Ivanevich... Whatever, he had no worries about that. If he had to go back and do the same thing all over again, he would, if it saved Parker and his team in the end.

Slowly, Eliot turned his head, encountering a slight discomfort with the action and saw that he wasn't alone in that room. Meaning, his bed wasn't the only one put up in the room. It seemed to be a big, sunny room about a couple of floors above the ground from the height of a tree he could see outside the window by which he spied Sophie. She was sitting on a recliner by the window and reading one of her ever present fashion magazines.

Tilting his head a little more, he was able to spot Parker, lying on another bed like his, also in a hospital issue gown, which she, unlike him seemed to actually look nice in. Parker was lying there humming tunelessly, idly locking and unlocking one of her favorite locks from her kit with just one hand. The other, he was was taped to an IV. Parker seemed much better than when he'd seen her last... so much better that he couldn't quite figure it out. She had seemed to be on death's door and here she was, almost perfectly fine.

It meant one of two things. Either she'd not been as hurt as she looked to be or he'd been so injured that by the time he woke up, she was almost fully recovered. He didn't know what to believe although he was kinda hoping that it was the first case.

Eliot was still busy trying to work out exactly what had happened to get him in this condition, when he heard a loud squeal from the bed next to him. He barely had time to react before a slender, warm body topped with a head of golden silk was hurtling at him, hugging every bit of him that wasn't covered in bandages and depositing soft kisses on every bit of his face and neck she could reach.

"You're awake... You're okay... Oh thank god!... Sophie... look, Eliot's awake."

For one second he could see Sophie and she looked suspiciously teary eyed and relieved in that moment. But all that was gone a mere second later when she caught up her phone and cheerfully relayed the information to Nate, who it seemed was with Hardison at the cafeteria. Upon their informing that they were on their way with loads of coffee and sandwiches, Sophie discreetly left the room, letting Eliot and Parker have some time alone.

As soon as the grifter was out the room, Parker didn't give Eliot even a moment's respite before she fitted her mouth to his in a kiss that made him want to flip them over, and do things to her that would make her moan in that delightful way of hers. Unfortunately, due to the simple fact that moving seemed to be out of question for now, Eliot settled for trying to wrap his arms around her and pulling her closer to him as he kissed her back with every bit of emotion in him.

"Did you mean it?"

Now, Eliot was completely befuddled. For all he knew of Parker, he loved the fact that she still managed to surprise, astonish and befuddle him most of the time. He'd been frustrated by it in the beginning, but with time, he'd come to enjoy the element of surprise and the way he discovered new things about his thief every day. But now, he was totally and utterly lost. No idea what she was talking about.

"What?"

"Did you mean what you said... you know... before the paramedics came?"

"Wh-... Oh that..."

Suddenly, it ran like a video in his head. He'd blurted out that he loved Parker. Now he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea. What if she didn't feel the same. I mean he and Parker had been in a very strong relationship for quite some time now, atleast that was what he thought... one could never say with Parker... She might've just been indulging in a short affair or simply scratching an itch. They'd always had that attraction simmering between them... maybe she'd just given in to it. But for his sake, Eliot decided to be truthful. He'd said it then because he felt it... every bit of it and he wanted to be able to say it to her again... every day if he could.

Slowly nodding his head, he said

"Y-Yeah... I meant it."

"Oh..."

Eliot hadn't expected her to fall into his arms declaring her love for him but he'd expected at least some sort of emotional reaction. Not this... Parker's face was blank but her eyes... those soft, dove gray eyes were rapidly filling up and overflowing with tears.

"Par-"

"Shhh... It's not what you think... Just..."

For the first time since he'd known her, he saw Parker cry... really, truly cry. Eliot felt his heart crumple at the sight of tears flowing freely down her pale cheeks, her face scrunched up with the effort of holding back her emotions. He was just about to open his mouth and tell her that it was okay if she didn't feel the same way when he felt Parker reach up and wrap her arms around his bandaged shoulders, jumping up lightly onto his bed and snuggling into the contours of his body.

With a soft sigh, Eliot wrapped his arms as best as he could around her slender form as he heard her muffled voice come from somewhere near his chest

"No one's ever said that to me you know... I- I just never knew how it felt... to have someone actually lo-love you. I am not normal Eliot... none of us are, but me more so than all of you. So it is going to take some getting used to... this whole being in love with someone. But I promise you that I will say it back to you... I already feel it... I just need some time to get used to this feeling before I can say it to you... Please... just give me some time..."

This time it was Eliot that quietened her with a soft kiss to her temple.

"Shh... It's okay darlin'... I totally understand what it is you're sayin'. Take your time honey... I ain't goin' anywhere. I am here to stay and I am gonna be right here, waitin' for you whenever you need me. This feeling here doesn't happen to everyone all the time babe... It's a once in a lifetime kinda thing and now that I've found it, I am not gonna be letting go anytime soon and even then, not without one helluva fight. So just relax, take your time and when you get used to this, I'll be right here waitin for you... I love you Parker and I'm not lettin' go"

The sparkling smile that Parker gave him before kissing the heck out of him, was reward enough for that little speech. They both got as comfortable as they could on the small hospital bed and settled in to wait for the rest of the team to make their appearance, which didn't take much time. Parker was ghosting soft kisses along Eliot's face and neck while he rubbed his good hand up and down her arm, holding her as close as he could when the door opened wide, emitted a small squeak and slammed shut again.

From the outside came Hardison's voice

"Yo guys... Wasn't Eliot supposed to be like sick?... Like really sick?... Not breathing on his own kinda sick and you Sophie... you said he just got up... Then what the hell is he doin' in bed with Parker?"

There was a slightly shocked silence while the two of them inside the room heard Hardison murmur that he 'never wanted to see something like that again... ever... ever you get that?... E-ver'.

The door opened slowly and cautiously again and this time, Sophie stuck her head inside, fearing what she was about to see

"Awww... That is so cute. Come on in Nate... You have to see this. Finally... I am so happy for you guys..."

Nate and Sophie stepped into the room, smiling widely at the sight in front of them... Eliot and Parker were both grinning, both of them blushing slightly at being the focus of everyone's attention for the first time after they knew of Eliot and Parker's relationship.

Once the two older members of the team had stepped in and he hadn't heard any shocked sounds, Hardison cautiously peered into the room before bounding in

"That was not cool man... You scared the shit out of all of us... But we're all very happy that you're back and gettin' better..."

A quiet 'Thanks man' was Eliot's answer to that as Nate and Sophie settled on the recliner and Hardison took his position on the edge of the coffee table there.

"So... Is anyone gonna tell me what exactly happened? I know that there was a lot goin' on that neither Parker nor I... no scratch that... that I wasn't aware of... You seemed to be in on the plan weren't you hun'?"

That comment brought out a slightly panicky and very very guilty expression on Parker's face and when Eliot turned to look at the others, he found that none of them were able to meet his eyes either. Scowling slightly, he settled back for the explanation that he knew was coming, hoping that it was at least half good because he'd just started trusting someone else in this lifetime and he wouldn't like for it to be ripped away from him now.

Eliot knew that there was no way he could continue working with the team if he felt he couldn't trust them and he knew that Nate at least knew it too. Trust was the one thing in his life he valued more than anything else. He couldn't be with people he didn't trust and that was non-negotiable. That was why it was making him uneasy that Nate was feeling guilty enough about something to not be able to meet his eyes.

Clearing his throat uneasily, Nate looked at everyone before starting

"Uh.. Actually Eliot... We owe you an apology. All of us..."

Of all the things he'd expected, an apology hadn't been one of them. Eliot couldn't understand the need for an apology and he said so

"Well, you've always been the team's protector, a team player that always did his job... no matter the consequences. I guess... I guess we just started to take what you did for granted. We... I should've listened to you when you expressed your doubts about the job this time. I should've listened to you and respected your area of expertise as you do mine or Sophie's or Hardison's."

Eliot was quiet for a minute, reflecting on what Nate had said but the silence was broken by the grifter

"Nate isn't the only one who should be apologizing Eliot... All of us owe you a huge apology and an even bigger thank you for being who you are. You go in every time one of us is in trouble and keep us safe no matter what... no matter how much you get hurt. We should've listened to you when you asked us to stop this con. I mean we all knew that this one was a little too easy but I guess we were just riding high on our recent string of successes..."

"We shouldn't have let the two of you take the fall for this one. You shouldn't have gotten hurt and you did... For that, we are all very hope you can forgive us..."

Still, Eliot wasn't entirely comfortable with all of this, something not quite ringing right. Nate was also quite antsy, uneasy and shifting in his seat as if something was bothering him

"Nate... whatever it is... jus' get it over with. I don't wanna do this for a minute longer than I have to... So just say whatever it is you have to say and get it over with."

Before Nate could say anything, Parker put her hand up, stalling the mastermind, silently telling him that she would be the person to tell Eliot about this part. This was the most damning part of their narrative and Parker's involvement in it, however circumstantial, was eating away at her ever since she'd woken up in the hospital to see Eliot in such a state.

Turning to Parker curiously, Eliot felt a chill settle around his heart at her guilty expression. She was chewing her bottom lip and worriedly looking at the hitter from underneath her lashes.

"Parker?... What is going on here?"

"Remember when we were at Carter and Ivanevich had me? You were still one floor below and had those doors to get through..."

At Eliot's wary nod, she continued

"Well... Ivanevich had just slapped me so hard I was seeing stars when I heard Nate say something very softly in my com... Ivanevich was gloating about how no one spoke when he did, walking around and making enough noise that he wouldn't have been able to hear what he said. My guess is that you were also so involved in breaking down those doors that you didn't hear it either... Nate said two words that time... he said... 'Mark Vector'..."

The hitter's mind immediately went back to the ex- hockey player turned investment consultant they'd taken down in their path to Damien Moreau. Parker had played the carrot that time... in their carrot and stick con with the jerk... She'd had to... play dead.

Eliot's brain stopped for a whole second before the whole thing unraveled in front of him. He'd been played... by his own team. They'd let him believe that Parker was gone so that he would react the way he did and get rid of Ivanevich and his men. They'd risked his loss of control just so that they could get the job done. But Eliot couldn't think about that now.

"Tell me everything... what else happened?"

Nate picked up the narrative with occasional inputs from Sophie and Hardison. Parker couldn't help but notice that Eliot's arm that had been around her, holding her close was gone, his arms were folded in front of his chest and he was lying stiffly on the bed next to her as if it was the last place he wanted to be at.

Parker knew that any loss of trust on Eliot's part was a deal breaker for him, and she completely understood that... hell, she was the same. If they'd played her the way they'd done Eliot, they might not even have found her afterwards. She'd have picked up and run as far as she could, as fast as she could, not caring about what or who she left behind.

But now, all of it had changed. She couldn't run even if she wanted to... for the first time, she wanted to stay. She had a family, however weird and dysfunctional... and she had someone who loved her (she hoped he still did in light of what she had revealed to him right now) and whom she loved back just that much.

Parker hadn't known what it was like to do a lot of things before Eliot came into her life. He'd just walked in one day and it had started to change... _she_ had started to change without even knowing, from a socially inept thief with trust issues to a slightly more socially comfortable thief who had grown used to being around her new family... grown used to depending on them and having them depend on her in return.

So now, as she listened to Nate and Sophie recount what had happened that night, Parker had an uneasy feeling inside her that this could be the one thing that could tear their little family apart. Because Eliot Spencer, was more than just a hitter in their team. He was a friend to Nate, a sympathetic ear for Sophie whenever she wanted to vent about Nate, a brother figure to Hardison and to Parker... he was so many things.

Eliot had been a best friend, a teacher, a boyfriend and a partner for so long now that she couldn't expect to continue to live the same way if he left the team. Parker knew for sure that if Eliot decided to quit, she would quit along with him and go wherever he went... whether he wanted her along or not.

But she didn't want that to happen. She wanted Eliot to stay, but there was no way she was going to try and influence his decision nor would she allow anyone else to try. If Eliot had to stay, he would stay of his own volition... she didn't want him staying out of some weird sense of duty that he always seemed to be carrying aorund. They had made their play and now she just had to wait to see if she came out on top.

Eliot felt himself grow more and more confused as he listened to Nate and Sophie's story. Most of it was incredibly clear... They had been conned into pulling a job, neatly pulled into the trap like lambs being led into slaughter. Eliot knew that they'd become predictable to their enemies by virtue of their insistence on being the good guys. Now all the bad guys had to do was dangle a carrot in front of them in the form of a normal guy or a family in distress, and off they were, without even thinking about the consequences of their actions.

The Leverage team had been quite neatly trapped in their own white knight syndrome and that was what their enemy had used to con them. It was like the first job with Dubenich and the Nigerians all over again, only two and a half years later and they had no Nigerians. In fact, it seemed as if they didn't even know who their Victor Dubenich was this time. Mikhail Ivanevich had just been a hired thug that knew nothing more than what he needed to know.

After Eliot had gone to Parker's rescue that night, Hardison had been so carefully back hacked that he himself hadn't noticed it till the time came when they shut him down. All this Eliot knew... but what he didn't know was that Hardison was back up and hacking into their mainframe again in a minute and had successfully spiked their little operation that they'd been unable to interfere afterwards. All that had been done while he was busy kicking in doors on the 36th floor.

He remembered that he hadn't had to kick down any doors on the floor above, even though they shared the same design and figured that Hardison had been able to help him there. It seemed that while Nate had told Parker to play dead in order to save herself from further beatings or other physical injuries, Hardison had been able to tap into their security cameras and find an angle that gave them full view of what Ivanevich was doing to Parker. They'd just recorded some of it and sent it off to every LEO in the vicinity, trusting them to respond as soon as possible.

After that, Nate had phoned in a major accident from the Yamamoto building down the street to the local hospital and when the ambulance got there, Sophie and Nate, clad in paramedics uniforms themselves, had simply redirected the crew to get to the Carter building and get to Parker and Eliot.

Eliot had suffered from a massive amount of trauma and had required a major surgery to correct his collapsed left lung. He'd also suffered broken ribs, a moderate concussion, a bullet in his shoulder, one in his thigh, two broken fingers, a sprained ankle and a broken wrist along with a ton of lacerations. Eliot had spent about a week in a medically induced coma, on ventilators before he'd come to the previous day.

Parker on the other hand, seemed to have three broken ribs, a cracked ankle as well as a motley of shallow and deep cuts all over her body with a cartload of bruising, all of which were recovering quite well.

The paramedics who'd found them had been astonished at the fact that the two of them were even alive after such massive trauma. They'd also taken in Ivanevich to the hospital where he'd been put in the ICU, but someone had gotten to him before the Leverage team had and he'd died of a massive overdose in the ICU itself.

In all the hurry to get to the two of them, the crew hadn't finished their job, which would be a first, since the team had gotten together. Eliot supposed he owed the team for saving his life, but he still had a lot to think about and work out before he could decide what to do next. For now, all he wanted to do was rest... his body was feeling like it'd been frozen, microwaved and frozen again and his brain felt like a bowl of jello shots set on fire.

"Eliot..."

"I-I just need some time guys... I think I need some rest now... We'll talk about this later. Why don't you guys get some rest yourselves?... Go home and get some shut eye and we'll talk about this tomorrow... You too Parker."

Eliot didn't know what to think and it was clearly heard in his quiet, drained voice. The team decided to give him his time and space even though they badly wanted to stay and beg his forgiveness, and retreated with promises of seeing the two of them the next day.

Parker stayed back, staring into his face with an intense expression as if she was searching for something. It was apparent that she'd found whatever she was looking for when she grinned sunnily, pressed a quick kiss on his lips and hopped off to her own bed a couple of meters away. Just as she was about to hop into bed, she turned and with another sunny smile said

"Don't worry Eliot... It'll all be okay. Just take your time and think it out... there no rush. I'll be right here waiting for you when you're done thinking about it."

That there... That made him feel better than anything else in a long time. Knowing that whatever he decided, he would have some one supporting him in the end. The unquestioning reliance on his decision and unstinting support his little thief was ready to give him told him just how important he was to her more than any words could. This, for Parker was a declaration of lifelong love in itself... though it wouldn't hurt to hear those three little words from her sometime soon.

Eliot smiled slightly at the way Parker could get him out of his dark moods whenever he descended into them and shook his head at the thought of spending the rest of his life trying to understand the alien workings of her complex mind. But knowing that she would be there no matter what, made it a lot easier for Eliot to make up his mind.

Whatever his team had done might've been wrong... may have been a mistake but they'd done it with proper intentions. And the fact that they realized their mistakes meant a lot more to Eliot than the fact that they apologized. Whatever his decision was, tomorrow would be a new day and the start of the rest of his life. With that thought, Eliot leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes, slipping to a deeper, more peaceful slumber than he'd managed in a long time.

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><p><em><strong>AN: so... This is it. Just the epilogue to go and it is all done, nicely wrapped up in a neat little package... I am deeply grateful to all the people who read, reviewed, alerted and favorite-d this story... I wouldn't have been able to do this if not for your continued support and advice... So don't forget to review on these chapters too :)**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**Macybear**_


	10. Epilogue

_**A/N:This here is the short epilogue I thought would set us up for the next season to come... It's starting on June 26th and there's a season premiere two hour event on the 20th... I can't wait!... So on with it. **_

_**Oh!.. don't forget to read the 9th chapter before this because I am posting both on the same day. Thanks again for all your support!... :)**_

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><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

_Two months later_

_Miami, Florida_

Nate and Sophie's apartment by the beach was the perfect location for the meeting. They'd all been on their own for the last couple of weeks, Nate and Sophie on a fortnight long shopping trip in Europe, Hardison at some sci-fi convention in LA and Eliot and Parker had spent the weeks touring the sunshine state. Florida had a truly impressive number of beaches and the sun, sand and blue, blue water had helped relax the now tanned and happy couple.

Eliot had made it quite clear that though he'd decided to let it go, he wouldn't quite be able to trust them the same as before, even Parker. And also that they would have to earn his trust back. Nate, Sophie, Hardison and Parker had heaved sighs of relief at the fact that Eliot wasn't leaving them before the hospital room had turned into a little party hall, courtesy of Hardison and a boatload of Orange soda, chips, fortune cookies and tiny little cakes and sandwiches from the bakery that Sophie liked so much that the team had managed to smuggle inside away from the eagle eyes of Nurse Whitman.

Things had run quite smoothly after that, all of them getting out of the hospital as soon as Eliot could be moved. They'd had guards posted outside the room, only letting authorized personnel inside, using his ex-army commander identity to get through the red tape. So they'd gotten out of the hospital as soon as they could and taken a corporate jet to Miami under aliases. Hardison had worked hard at covering their tracks and making sure they weren't followed.

Now, after a month and a half in the sunny beaches of Florida, both Eliot and Parker were back to their old selves, only... better by virtue of each other's company bringing out the best in them. Parker was a lot more normal and trusting nowadays and Eliot was a lot less grumpy and spoke quite a bit more. All in all, it was a good balance that benefited both of them and everyone was happy.

Now that they were all back together at Nate and Sophie's beach house, the mood turned serious. Through the last month, even though they hadn't been in touch with each other, they'd all been on the same mission. Find the guy who'd ordered the hit on them. It had been quite difficult getting information on this guy but they finally had something to go on and that was what this meeting was about.

Nate and Sophie took their seats on the couch while Parker chose to sit crosswise on Eliot's lap, her feet dangling off one armrest of his chair. Eliot had one arm wrapped around her, his other interlaced with hers while Parker's other hand was busy in Eliot's slightly longer, silky hair. The rest of the team had finally gotten used to the spontaneous displays of affection the pair liked to indulge in, especially after they found out that Eliot and Parker were mostly doing it for their benefit, to get them worked up... especially Hardison

"Okay guys... Now this is - Yo... Eyes here. I am talkin here... If you can put off the lovefest for a couple of minutes, we can get along on information on the guy who's tryin to kill us"

The sentence getting progressively louder, as Hardison got more and more annoyed at the apparent lack of response from the thief and hitter who seemed to be in their own little world. Eliot and Parker turned, smirking at the hacker as Eliot quipped

"We gotta get you a girlfriend man... You're so tense nowadays... Relax..."

A poorly concealed laugh from Nate and an amused glance from Sophie later, a fuming Hardison was assured of their seriousness and began his presentation that he'd put together painstakingly form whatever little information they had.

"This is the guy that according to my sources ordered the hit on our team..."

Hardison turned to the team with the remote in his hand, gratified to see that they were all serious and paying attention.

"He is a very elusive figure who, from what I can find out, which is very little by the way, is from Ireland originally. He was born and brought up in the United States, his mother was Irish, father American."

As the pictures changed, Hardison continued

"He seems to be a multi-billionaire from his financials... not much of it available now, I still have to do some more work on that... But from what I do have, he seems to have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies... he's got control of more businesses that Moreau and has more contacts and friends that the Pope himself."

"But get this... nobody talks about him. He's just a shadow of a whisper on the financial markets even though he own more than half of what gets traded everyday. He is probably the single largest owner of businesses this side of the Atlantic."

"He seems to be Harvard educated though I am not able to find any records of him at Harvard Business School, doesn't mean that they don't have any... I just haven't been able to find it that all..."

He continued muttering something about 'stupid filing systems and steam powered computers' under his breath for a minute before continuing

"Last but not the least, his financials are clean... I mean like thoroughly, squeaky clean. Nobody can be that big and be that clean, but I haven't been able to find anything suspicious... no Swiss bank accounts, nothing in the Caymans... nada."

"That's it... that's all we have on this guy?"

"Yeah... That's it for now. I'm still working on it..."

"Good job Hardison... keep digging. I'll also work my sources some more and find out something more about this guy"

"Oh and one more thing... He's been keeping tabs on us for the past six months. You don't wanna know how I know that but I do... But no one's been following us since we left with Eliot from the hospital."

"Okay... so that's one worry off our shoulders for now, but we gotta work fast... no knowing when this guy might catch up with us. We have to get to him before he can get to us. Okay?"

At several quiet nods from the team, Nate appeared satisfied and got up from the couch to go to get his phone. Abruptly, he stopped. Turning to Hardison he asked

"Hardison, What did you say his name was?"

"I didn't... Haven't been able to find out his full name yet. All I know is what is put down on the handful of documents that I've been able to get of him..."

"Well, what is it then?"

"J. Lattimer"

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><p><em><strong>AN: There. This is it. It's all done. Do you like how I wrapped it up?... Pretty little package containing a sweet little time bomb right? **_

_**Review and tell me how you liked it... As always... reviews mean love and merit a hug from Eliot Spencer, hitter extraordinaire ;P**_

_**lotsa luv and fortune cookies**_

_**Macybear**_


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